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New York Teacher Sheri Lederman’s Lawsuit Update

Recall the New York lawsuit pertaining to Long Island teacher Sheri Lederman? The teacher who by all accounts other than her recent (2013-2014) 1 out of 20 growth score is a terrific 4th grade, 18 year veteran teacher. She, along with her attorney and husband Bruce Lederman, are suing the state of New York to challenge the state’s growth-based teacher evaluation system. See prior posts about Sheri’s case here, here and here. I, along with Linda Darling-Hammond (Stanford), Aaron Pallas (Columbia University Teachers College), Carol Burris (Executive Director of the Network for Public Education Foundation), Brad Lindell (Long Island Research Consultant), Sean Corcoran (New York University) and Jesse Rothstein (University of California – Berkeley) are serving as part of Sheri’s team.

Bruce Lederman just emailed me with an update, and some links re: this update (below), and he gave me permission to share all of this with you.

The judge hearing this case recently asked the lawyers on both sides of Sheri’s case to brief the court by the end of this month (February 29, 2016) on a new issue, positioned and pushed back into the court by the New York State Education Department (NYSED). The issue to be heard pertains to the state’s new “moratorium” or “emergency regulations” related to the state’s high-stakes use of its growth scores, all of which is likely related to the political reaction to the opt-out movement throughout the state of New York, the publicity pertaining to the Lederman lawsuit in and of itself, and the federal government’s adoption of the recent Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) given its specific provision that now permits states to decide whether (and if so how) to use teachers’ students’ test scores to hold teachers accountable for their levels of growth (in New York) or value-added.

While the federal government did not abolish such practices via its ESSA, the federal government did hand back to the states all power and authority over this matter. Accordingly, this does not mean growth models/VAMs are going to simply disappear, as states do still have the power and authority to move forward with their prior and/or their new teacher evaluation systems, based in small or large part, on growth models/VAMs. As also quite evident since President Obama’s signing of the ESSA, some states are continuing to move forward in this regard, and regardless of the ESSA, in some cases at even higher speeds than before, in support of what some state policymakers still apparently believe (despite the research) are the accountability measures that will still help them to (symbolically) support educational reform in their states. See, for example, prior posts about the state of Alabama, here, New Mexico, here, and Texas, here, which is still moving forward with its plans introduced pre-ESSA. See prior posts about New York here, here, and here, the state in which also just one year ago Governor Cuomo was promoting increased use of New York’s growth model and publicly proclaiming that it was “baloney” that more teachers were not being found “ineffective,” after which Cuomo pushed through the New York budget process amendments to the law increasing the weight of teachers’ growth scores to an approximate 50% weight in many cases.

Nonetheless, as per this case in New York, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, on behalf of the NYSED, offered to settle this lawsuit out of court by giving Sheri some accommodation on her aforementioned 2013-2014 score of 1 out of 20, if Sheri and Bruce dropped the challenge to the state’s VAM-based teacher evaluation system. Sheri and Bruce declined, for a number or reasons, including that under the state’s recent “moratorium,” the state’s growth model is still set to be used throughout the state of New York for the next four years, with teachers’ annual performance reviews based in part on growth scores reported to parents, newspapers (on an aggregate basis), and the like. While, again, high-stakes are not to be attached to the growth output for four years, the scores will still “count.”

Hence, Sheri and Bruce believe that because they have already “convincingly” shown that the state’s growth model does not “rationally” work for teacher evaluation purposes, and that teacher evaluations as based on the state’s growth model actually violate state law since teachers like Sheri are not capable of getting perfect scores (which is “irrational”), they will continue with this case, also on behalf of New York teachers and principals who are “demoralized” by the system, as well as New York taxpayers who are paying (millions “if not tens of millions of dollars” for the system’s (highly) unreliable and inaccurate results.

As per Bruce’s email: “Spending the next 4 years studying a broken system is a terrible idea and terrible waste of taxpayer $$s. Also, if [NYSED] recognizes that Sheri’s 2013-14 score of 1 out of 20 is wrong [which they apparently recognize given their offer to settle this suit out of court], it’s sad and frustrating that [NYSED] still wants to fight her score unless she drops her challenge to the evaluation system in general.”

“We believe our case is already responsible for the new administrative appeal process in NY, and also partly responsible for Governor Cuomos’ apparent reversal on his stand about teacher evaluations. However, at this point we will not settle and allow important issues to be brushed under the carpet. Sheri and I are committed to pressing ahead with our case.”

To read more about this case via a Politico New York article click here (registration required). To hear more from Bruce Lederman about this case via WCNY-TV, Syracuse, click here. The pertinent section of this interview starts at 22:00 minutes and ends at 36:21. It’s well worth listening!

Amanda, you write that the judge has asked for briefing on “a new issue,” and that the issue “pertains to the state’s new ‘moratorium’ or ’emergency regulations’ related to the state’s high-stakes use of its growth scores . . . .”

But what is the issue exactly? Is the issue just “how do the new regulations affect Lederman’s claim”?

Yes. How will the fed’s new ESSA regs, that teachers do not have to be evaluated as based on their students’ test scores, impact Lederman’s case. If the feds aren’t requiring this, then, why is the state? And what are the implications for Sheri.

After watching year after year of NCLB/R2T test-score invasions increase inside our reform-greedy district, and watching simultaneously as so many lawsuits have been hidden, delayed, unaddressed, denigrated, minimized — your story brings fresh air and hope. THANK YOU.

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